public comment is closed. thank you everyone for being here today. meeting adjourned. >> hello. 9 judge terri l. jackson. the court is now recruiting prospective civil grand jurors. our goal is to develop a pool of candidates that is inclusive of all segments of our city's

population. >> the jury conducts investigations and publishes findings and recommendations. these reports them become a key part of the civic dialog on how we can make san francisco a better place to live and work. >> i want to encourage anyone that is on the fence, is considering participating as a grand jury member, to do so. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call

>> hi, i'm bart may. today we have a speaking event for you as we all the celebrate the placement of the world's largest self-anchored suspension bridge. without any further ado, i'd like to introduce the cal trans director, malcolm dockerty.

>> thank you for coming out and helpling us celebrate the momentous occasion. it is my extreme pleasure to be able to introduce our first speaker today, and that is the honorable mayor, gene kwan. >> good morning. well, we were expecting my friend ed lee. who knows if we see flashing sirens, that will probably be him. this is an amazing event for the bay area's economy. this bridge and this final lane of the final section represents so many things for us in the bay area. it represents an investment in the future of our area, tying oakland and san francisco. this is the kind of infrastructure work that i know president obama is trying to get in the big that will be coming

up this week. about 10 kinds of this type of bridge are being built with federal dallas. the tax payers in the bay area have been willing to finance the retro fit of the bridge. this is a component that came from china. it's a real symbol of the global economy. and it is a complex project. it shows how we're linked together. and thirdly, it's going to be this amazing opportunity for us regular self-defense when the bridge is finished, particularly here on the east side, to ride out here, our bikes, to walk out here across the bridge. to really tie us culturally as well as economically together in the bay area. i want to thank the workers and the cal trans crew that's been working so hard on this project for over a decade now.

this has been difficult. i know the last mayor had a little bit of to say about the design. this has gone through three mayors. this is also when this comes back, it will be a critical part of what we're applying for federal funds. this is part of an overall economic vision, and lastly, we all felt those tremors last week. we have to remember why we're here today. we live in earthquake country. there's so much work that we have to do to retro fit major bridges and roads in the bay area, and so that's why i'm particularly hopeful that we'll have a better outcome this week, next week in congress for the president's bill. we need to retro fit not only this bridge, but a lot of other major structures in the bay area. thank you to the engineering crew. thank you to the iron workers.

thank you to international workers in china for building this last section. this is really a great day for the bay area 678. >> thank you, mayor. we could not let today pass without major representation from the bay area city, since this is a significant link here between the bay cities. i'd like to introduce from the city of san francisco, mohammed nuru. >> good morning, and thank you for having us out here. i'd like to start by first of all expressing mayor lee's regret for not being able to come here. unfortunately, he got stuck at city hall. but with that said, we are very, very happy to be here for this event, and to join our partners. this celebration today marking

installation of the 28th piece of the piece of bridge completes the driveway, bringing the rage into san francisco. as we heard from the mayor, it is a very, very important part of the project because it does connect san francisco. as you know, of 100 million people use this bridge in a year to come to san francisco. but the construction of the bridge itself brings a lot of jobs to the bay area and we're very, very happy about that in support of all the work that our president is doing in washington to bring more of projects of this type. this bridge marks a huge improvement to connecting san francisco, and also connecting treasure island, which is the development that will be -- it's

a development that's under way, and will hopefully be a place where everyone can also enjoy and ride their bicycles. next year we'll be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the bay area bridge. i want to remind everyone to look forward to that celebration. it should be huge. i know there's a number of projects, some lighting of the bridge and all sorts of celebrations. with that said, i'm very happy to be here and san francisco is proud to be part of this project. thank you. >> thank you very much. i'd like to talk about the significance of what's been accomplished here today. it's another major milestone in the construction project that is replacing the san francisco

oakland bay bridge. another major step forward in the completion. obviously, it's very important, and as was mentioned earlier about the number of motors that use this bridge, it's 280,000-plus motorists that use this every day and it's an important economic lifeline, and this extraordinary work done today will ensure that this lifeline will be safe for generations to come. as we speak behind me, you can see that the final deck section is being listed into place. all 28 deck sessions will be in place and this is a massive step toward the completion of this engineering icon bridge. it closes the gap between the s.a.s. and the skyway, which we are standing on. it will give us a clearer picture of what the skyway will look like and the opening of the bridge late in 2013. we've been work at this. the department of transportation

as well as the contractor and many workers and the subcontractors. we've been work on this for 21 months. on february 3 of 2010, the first deck section was put into place. and i want to thank all of cal tran's workers, whose efforts over that period of time has led to this point as well as the contractor and the subcontractors for all the continued great work. the engineers and construction crews will be working night and day to livet all those 28 deck sections into place for this world class bridge and they deserve a lot of recognition and our sincere thank you. i'd also like to give a specific thank you in recognition to american bridge and floor enterprise, the main contractor on this project and to all the employees who have made this achievement possible, and we'll hear from the project manager of that endeavor a little bit later. i want to thank the oversight committee. we'll hear next from steve

hemmingger. but i'd also like to thank mr. rinehart, who was not able to be here today. i want to thank the residents for their patience and support on this important project. i'll close with message to all the driving public. we ask you to drive safely and move over when it's safe to do so. at this time, i'd like to introduce, as mentioned before, the executive drecktor of the bay area toll authority, >> good morning, everybody. we broke ground on this project, or broke water, i don't know what the right phrase is for a

bridge, in the year 2000. today is a big step toward completion of the project. i think it's important to mark milestones, especially when a project lasts this long. but the only milestone that really matters, as mayor kwan says, is when we can move traffic from that bridge on to this one. that seismic safety imperative has always been uppermost in our mind. and it continues to be with the reminders that we've seen with recent seismic activity just over the last few weeks. mayor kwan, i want to assure you we are going to open this bridge when you are still mayor. as for mayor lee, i guess we'll find out in a few weeks. we are going to open it as quickly as possible. we certainly hope by late 2013,

or sooner if possible, and let me conclude, if i could, because we'd be introducing brian peterson next, the project manager, that i sure hope now that we've got all the steel in place, we can really put the pedal to the metal. congratulations to all the workers who have gotten us this far and let's get the last stretch done now. thank you. >> before i introduce our last important speaker, i want to close my comments on a safety note and acknowledge other partners that are here, the california highway patrol. i do know that seward is here

for the california highway patrol and i want to extend my appreciation to them. at this time, i would like to introduce our last speaker, the project manager for this great project. brian peterson. >> good morning, everyone. it is a very exciting day. i appreciate the attendance we have here. it's a great day here. it's a beautiful day. we've got a lot of this evenings ahead of us here. today is one of many great days for the project and american bridge floor marks the erection of a last piece of bridge stack. and the final major piece of the fabricated steel for the project. today's piece will allow us to start the cable work in the

months to come. so you'll see a dynamic change again in the bridge. we are proud of the fabrication that has been provided by dpmc and we thank them for all of their efforts. we're also very fortunate to have an experienced work force here on the project that can accomplish great feats like you see going on behind us. without their skill, without their effort, this wouldn't be possible. milestones like today are only achieved through the spirit of cooperation, communication, and coordination. and for that, american bridge floor appreciates the team work of everybody that is here today and some special ones that couldn't be here as well. finally, i express our gratitude for the support from cal trans, the california transportation

commission, and all of the elected officials that have supported this project, and like steve said, we look forward to continuing the work on this project to drive forward to a possible opening to traffic and seismic safety. the paramount that's left for the joint venture to complete. i thank everybody for attending and i hope you enjoy the day. >> thank you all again for coming out to mark this momentous occasion. now i'm going to turn it over to bart for logistics. >> at this point, that concludes the speaking part of the day. and i know that some of you are going to remain on the deck with us and do your live -- we're going to go ahead and adjourn the speakers. brian, if you want to go ahead and allow them to take a peek at

the segment, it looks like it's moving pretty well, actually. >> this is holly lee knox. there are some proud pet owners in san francisco and they have brought all their pets here to strut their stuff. >> it's an annual event that we've had. this is our 18th year. we bring in rescue groupers, vendors, supporters, lots and

lots of animals. it's a proud day for us and for the animals of san francisco. >> the costume contest is really fun. people get really creative. it's a really fun event. people go all out, create costumes, buy costumes, whatever it is. but there's some really fun ones. >> we're just celebrating the pets and just their companionship and how they are invaluable. so everybody's having fun. >> we're the city's open door shelter. that means we take in every animal that comes through our door regardless of age, condition, species, everything in the city comes through us that is in need. >> animal care control, it is such an important agency and is

very understaffed, has very few resources. but we make animals don't have a home, that we get them a home and that we don't put the animals to sleep, that we're able to adopt them out. >> we have a huge number of volunteers who come in and they will walk our dogs, socialize our animals, play with cats, play with them, bring them to adoption events today. >> i volunteer with the animal control center and i do that every week. >> we're in an organization called friends of a.c.c. with that organization, you can donate money if you don't have time. if you do have time, you can come down to the shelter and volunteer to actually have one-on-one time with the animals. if you're like me and you don't have time to give to an animal, if you actually have one of your

own, you can get your fix on the weekends, come in and pet them and love them and it's great. >> this has been pet pride 2011 brought to you by san francisco animal care and control. to find out more, visit them on the web at sfgov >> thank you for joining us. i'm katherine sharp. we are very excited today to have a press release from the mayor and have him join us. this has been an amazing experience for those of us from the very beginning. we look forward to sharing that story with you. without further ado, mayor lee. >> thank you, katherine. thank you very much for being here. i wanted to join this great

moment of celebration for fibrogen, which is more than a serial. that was what i first thought when i saw that name. i want to congratulate fibrogen and all the companies that have spouted up. i had -- the creation of this experiment with bioand life sciences here in mission bay. now a few years later, it really began in 2009 where there were five companies that started in this building. today, there are 23 of these microbusinesses that are doing biotechnology research, clinical laboratory research as well as applications for that. right here, the three areas of work that they're doing.

they told me they're here because of the talent, the graduates coming out of berkley and stanford and the school systems are really feeding the kind of talent that they're wanting to have in their companies and the industries are growing, and they're growing from different kinds of bio research to clean tech research. so our formula that began there, and again, i want to publicly thank former mayor newsom for this, as he had that vision. now as of today, mission bay is 64% built out. as you can see right across the street. the hospital is almost halfway there. more than halfway there. under $1.5 billion build of the medical center.

that is another attraction and it's attracting the microbusinesses that come here. their square footage tenfolded right in that very same time. i think the companies here, from what i can interview, they're very excited to be here. they really feel the cross fertilization of talent that's coming in within the building. that, again, reflects not on the consistent policy we've had here about technology companies as well as bio, life science, and clean tech industries starting here, staying here, and growing here all at the same time. one of the reasons they can continue to grow is they do have a lot of openness to their interaction between the different companies so they get that kind of innovation going on.

that's why we call it the mission bay center. i'm glad to announce this today and announce this has been a huge milestone thanks to all of you for consistently being here. i know tom is going to say a few words here. but i know the city has done right, and you can evidence it right here. we started with good business sense, whether it was attracting fibrogen or q.v.c. and then started saying we can attract other businesses here. we've done the right messaging here. redevelopment has built the infrastructure, and now we see our future tax dollars contributing to the verticalness of these buildings and then the companies have come here in a very open and welcome way. and the talent is still continuing to be here. i exchanged my views that we

need to keep our school systems very strong. because if they can continue graduating our kids with strong science backgrounds and they do end up getting into great schools, not all of them will get into stanford and berkley, but if they can get their science now, they'll still be recruited by the companies, where the research that they need, the laboratory work that they need, and the clinical applications are happening here. so i'm very excited to announce this milestone here and to join all of you here with congratulations, and we're still in one of the most beautiful areas that -- this is why it's getting built right here. you can see b.a.e. from our port. they're here trying to do more cruise ship right next door. behind me, you'll see the future campus. they'll be filling in. all very exciting and we'll build out 100% of mission bay. and then we've got hunter's point and candle stick that will start a focus on clean tech.

so the formulas we've had, the tax and business approach we've had not only have been inviting, i think they evidence the success we've seen today and we'll continue doing that with you and enjoy more and i hope not to wait for another 2 1/2 years to get the other tenfold. i think it's going to probably go faster now. so thank you for being here. [applause] >> thank you, mayor lee. i'd like to introduce our boss, c.e.o. and founder of fibrogen, tom neff. [applause] >> thappings, katherine. let me start by thanking mayor lee for coming. welcoming steve richardson.

alexander realty, who is now the owner of these buildings. steve has played a hand in many parts of what's gone on in mission barke not just here, but elsewhere. those that know him know he's had a major role in the leadership and the vision of what's going on and where we're going overall. i'd also like to mention and thank the innovation centers of the bay area and fizer for coming. nectar as well. those are companies that are nearby now in mission bay. also, the micros and the minis here, they are now, i guess by my count, 25. mayor lee 23. there's a couple that are up in the office area, the fibrogen building that are probably -- i'm counting that he wasn't. there have been 35 total over

time. some have gotten bigger and moved into larger quarters. some have venture owners that want them out of the city of san francisco and down the peninsula. some had to downsize. couldn't raise more money. so the picture has been one that's very dynamic. we would expect about 50% growth year over year. in the number of companies. internally, i would guess that a third of the companies would grow in the space they have inside the building. so it's burgeoning. it's not just doing ok or getting by. it's a place where we reached an equilibrium. it's a turnover and a huge amount of demand out there for amount of demand out there for the resource.